10 BEHAVIOURS OF EFFECTIVE EMPLOYEES

In the book I break out the 10 core behaviours I have observed in effective employees. I walk through each one and show how important it is for you to spot these behaviours in yourself, but also in your direct reports.

A more detailed description is below.

There is also a free link pack to accompany the book. In the link pack I have included a number of useful and helpful resources.

Grab your free 10 Behaviours Link pack.

About the book

Why is it that some highly qualified and certified people in the workplace flounder and fail to deliver what’s expected of them?

Why do some people who have little in the way of formal qualifications succeed with ease?
The training or qualifications don’t appear to be making the difference. It’s something else, something deeper, and something about the person. For years I’ve studied why some employees, colleagues and managers are more effective than others.

Through my observations I’ve seen some people bring value to a business and some drain the business of all of its momentum. I’ve seen some people achieve in a day what someone else may take a fortnight to complete. I’ve seen some people keep their heads down and do the bare-minimum whilst others are hungry for more. I’ve seen people working incredibly hard coupled with long hours and achieve little.

I’ve seen some teams succeed mostly down to one or two individuals. I’ve seen examples where a single team of effective employees literally changes a company’s fortunes overnight.

It’s clear to me that some people bring more value to a business than others. Some people garner more respect than others. Some people achieve more in 2 hours than some people achieve in a full day. Some people get the job done. Some people bring down the team. Some people make a lot of noise but achieve little.

Over the last 15 years I have accumulated a vast number of notes, snippets and observations that have lead me to this book. I have attempted to boil down these observations and distill them in to the 10 core behaviours in this book.

I settled on 10 behaviours, but there could have been more. No single person I have met has demonstrated all 10 at the same time. The 10 behaviours chosen are vast topics in themselves. In this book I’ve simplified them to give you a taste of the essence of each one of these behaviours.

Some very effective people demonstrate just two or three of these behaviours but in such abundance that they excel at what they do. Some demonstrate 5 or 6. Each effective employee I have ever met has had some combination of the 10. Rarely is someone effective demonstrating just a single behaviour in their day to day work.

A key thing to point out though is that all of the effective employees I have met, worked with or hired have never relied on their qualifications or certifications to demonstrate their competence. Some have no industry recognised education or training to speak of. Some are certified and qualified to the hilt. None though, have ever relied on these things alone to get a job, get the job done or prove their value.

However, all of these effective employees are educated people. They have educated themselves relentlessly (a key behaviour of effective people). They learn from others and, importantly, they teach others. Some of this education has come from formal state or government education, some from training course, some from books, some from informal mentors, but, in my experience, most of it has come from experience.

In some companies the behaviours I talk about in this book will be frowned upon. If you show these behaviours you will rock the boat. You will challenge the norms. You may even get sacked. The behaviours may not be welcome. If that is true for you then should you be working there? I’m not suggesting you should put your financial and career security at risk, but if you’re trapped in a career or job that is restricting you then maybe it is time to move on?

Companies that don’t embrace change, innovation and freedom for their effective employees will struggle to remain relevant to the market, and importantly, to the next generation of employees who are looking for more freedom and meaning in their careers. The effective people will leave. The ineffective people will remain. Delivering business value is hard with ineffective employees.

After reading this book you may be tempted to try and demonstrate all 10 behaviours. Don’t. Pick one and work on it.